Integration Tests in Maven

Integration tests require access to external resources such as a relational database or a web service.  In Maven, use the core Failsafe plugin to execute integration tests.

To configure, add the Failsafe plugin to the pom.xml in the <plugins> section.

 <plugins>
 ...

   <plugin>                 
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
       <version>2.13</version>
       <executions>
           <execution>
               <id>integration-test</id>
               <goals>
                   <goal>integration-test</goal>
                   <goal>verify</goal>
               </goals>
           </execution>
       </executions>
    </plugin>
 ...
 </plugins>


To create a integration test, just create a Java class in the Maven test directory starting or ending with IT, e.g. ITWebService.java, DatabaseIT.java.

I usually disable integration tests by default since the external resources may be not operational and integration tests often take a long time to complete.

To disable by default, add the Maven skipITs property and set it to true.


 <properties>
 ...
   <skipITs>true</skipITs>
 ...
 </properties>

 <plugins>
 ...

   <plugin>                 
       <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
       <artifactId>maven-failsafe-plugin</artifactId>
       <version>2.13</version>
       <configuration>
           <skipTests>${skipITs}</skipTests>
       </configuration>
       <executions>
           <execution>
               <id>integration-test</id>
               <goals>
                   <goal>integration-test</goal>
                   <goal>verify</goal>
               </goals>
           </execution>
       </executions>
    </plugin>
 ...
 </plugins>



To execute, run the command

    mvn -DskipITs=false clean install